Well, dear readers, as those who were around yesterday know, I had a disaster of major proportions happen. Not a disaster of corporal proportions or even sergeant proportions, no I had a disaster of major proportions – a four-star general at that. In the afternoon, I took in some trade material to my local DVD shop. I picked up a few new things, and we were sorting it all out at the counter. I had my wallet with me, which I was holding. I may or may not have put it on the counter to help bag the stuff I got in trade. I left the store, drove the three minutes to my house and went to fetch my wallet from the glove compartment (where I keep it whilst driving) and it wasn’t there. I checked my pockets and checked the car – not there. I immediately drove back to the store, thinking I’d probably left it on the counter, which I’ve done once before at this particular store. But, the owner said it wasn’t there and he hadn’t seen it. He thought he’d only helped one customer since I’d left, and she was walking out as I came in and she heard what I was looking for and didn’t say anything – plus, I believe she’s a regular customer and was being helped at a different part of the counter. We sort of looked around, but couldn’t find it. There were other people in the store when I was there, and I suppose one of them could have just seen the wallet and left with it. I retraced my footsteps to where I’d parked, but no wallet (and I really doubt that I would have dropped it on the way and not noticed it). I was, at that point, apoplectic (losing the wallet is one of my worst nightmares). I drove home again, scoured the car for it, thinking it might have fallen under the seat or in a crack somewhere, but it was nowhere to be found. I checked in the bag of DVDs – not there. So, I got my bank on the phone and we put a block on my two ATM cards – and we ascertained that no charges had come in on them. Then I did the same for my credit cards. I then called the police department and filed a report. Unfortunately, in addition to the various cards, my license and social security card were in there, along with my favorite photograph of my darling daughter. It was terribly upsetting, and on Monday I will now be dealing with the DMV, the social security office, plus my DGA, SAG, and AFTRA cards, all of which have to be replaced, along with my triple A, and various other things that were in there. Horrible. I’m still hoping and praying it will somehow miraculously be found by someone honest or show up shorn of cards but otherwise complete. I never carry cash in the wallet, so if they were looking for that, they were out of luck. Thank goodness, I didn’t have my checkbook with me. I’ll pay a visit to the store again this morning when they open, but the owner and his employee said they’d really looked for it behind the counter. They also will recreate the timeline of everyone who was there between the time I left and the time I returned – at least the people who bought stuff and left in that time (they can do it by the time stamp on the receipts). I truly hate this, and if someone did steal it and is attempting to do bad things with it, I think we should all send them a curse of the highest order so that they suffer a slow and/or quick horrible death. Anyway, we need excellent vibes and xylophones for a miracle of miracles. Send them and send them often.
Prior to that, I’d actually had a rather pleasant day, attending a book fair, jogging, and just relaxing. I also managed to watch a motion picture on DVD entitled Decision Before Dawn, a Fox war movie from 1951, starring Richard Basehart and Gary Merrill. But the film really stars its third-billed actor, an actor who most people assume “burst” on the scene in the late 50s with Truffaut’s Jules et Jim, Mr. Oskar Werner. He gives the film’s best performance and is just terrific in a mostly excellent Anatole Litvak film. The very ending is very strange and unsatisfying, but the trip there is pretty engrossing and suspenseful. The film was actually up for Best Picture at that year’s Academy Awards, so it was obviously well thought of. Transfer is decent and nothing more.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst I try to keep from going mad over The Horrifying Case of the Lost and/or Stolen Wallet by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Last night, even though I was in a horrid mood, I toddled off to the opening of a new musical entitled One Way Ticket To Hell. It’s basically Reefer Madness-lite – a spoof on the horrors of marijuana and heroin use in the early 60s. I don’t really want to say much, other than the show didn’t work for me at all – the humor is basic and not funny, the acting style is arch and “commenting”, which is not my favorite thing, and in spoofs as in anything, you have to create a world and be true to it, which I didn’t feel happened here. It needs to be much funnier, and the tone needs to be sharpened (it’s very Urinetownish right now, not a good thing). The score is oke at best, with almost every song saying exactly the same thing as some other song in the score, and the music is very repetitious – the band works hard, though. I did have fun with an old pal, Miss Jessica Kiernan, whom I’ve known since she was sixteen (she’s a friend of Mr. Mark Bakalor). She assisted me when I did three back-to-back recording sessions in NY back in 1997 or thereabouts. After the show, we supped at Genghis Cohen. She’s living in the Valley with her boyfriend and we had a grand time.
Have I mentioned that I am thoroughly depressed about The Horrifying Case of the Lost and/or Stolen Wallet by Erle Stanley Gardner? Nothing would please me more than to have a happy end – whether that happens or not should be apparent fairly soon. The block I put on my ATM cards was for twenty-four hours – but I have to let them know to send new cards after that. Oy and vey.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, pray for a miracle of miracles, I must try and relax and not be upset, and then I must prepare to deal with all the resultant crap that I have to deal with come tomorrow. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, and please, send the strongest possible vibes and xylophones for a happy ending to The Horrifying Case of the Lost and/or Stolen Wallet by Erle Stanley Gardner.